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HP Forum Archive 18

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What's happened at CMT??
Message #1 Posted by Allen on 18 Sept 2008, 8:16 p.m.

I just got off the phone with a guy at CMT. He called me a 'funny', stating that they had ignored my email to support@cmtimc.com because no one knew anything about 'these 20 year old products'.

When I asked if it was an American-owned company and to whom the support emails are addressed he started yelling saying that it was none of my business, that it was like asking "who his girlfriend was", that I wasn't a customer, and that all these 'funny' call about 20 year old technology are a waste of time.

When I suggested they should respond to emails, even if in the negative, He was literally hysterical, yelling with his Chinese accent saying it was none of my business and that I am not a customer.

Has any one else called them at (541) 752-5456 ? If you politely ask for anything not listed on the website. Listen to the incoherent half-English and extremely rude response.

Edited: 18 Sept 2008, 8:30 p.m.

      
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #2 Posted by Don Shepherd on 18 Sept 2008, 8:43 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Allen

Sounds like a company I would not do business with.

      
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #3 Posted by bill platt on 18 Sept 2008, 9:30 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Allen

What was CMT?

            
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #4 Posted by hpnut on 18 Sept 2008, 9:38 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by bill platt

Quote:
What was CMT?

http://www.cmtinc.com/

            
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #5 Posted by hpnut on 20 Sept 2008, 12:51 p.m.,
in response to message #3 by bill platt

Quote:
What was CMT?

here's a picture of Corvallis Microtechnology MC-II RPN calculator

http://www.msdsite.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=934&cat=534&ppuser=482

                  
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #6 Posted by Garth Wilson on 20 Sept 2008, 1:30 p.m.,
in response to message #5 by hpnut

That was the MC-II computer with the application pack to run HP-41 programs. The first MC-II was sold in Feb '88 and the introductory price was $495. The MC-II was a basically an 80c88 DOS computer but had the OS in ROM instead of on disc. It came with 128KB of RAM (which you could expand on) and had six memory module ports. It had two RS-232 ports going through RJ-11 jacks. Its 1.25-pound weight includes five AA alkaline batteries which would typically give it 300 hours of use based on it being half asleep and not doing anything much of that time, or 20 hours if running the whole time. This is from my old issues of "Hand-Held Solutions," the CMT infomercial magazine wich maybe I should loan to Katie to scan and post.

      
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #7 Posted by hpnut on 18 Sept 2008, 9:33 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Allen

The guy's probably at a call centre in Guangdong, China or God forbid, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ;-)

hpnut in Malaysia

      
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #8 Posted by Jeff Davis on 18 Sept 2008, 9:45 p.m.,
in response to message #1 by Allen

I ran across this same thing when I was trying to coordinate a large purchase from him. He does not want to search for anything and will only offer something if he has run across it in the warehouse. This guy is obviously not the one we need to contact. There has to be a more reasonable person that understands the magnitude of what we would like to see. I told this guy that we were prepared to offer $10K for a "Lot" of items. I got the same response as you. Well, I guess these little trinkets for our use will eventually burn in a fire as the rest of the Educalc inventory did.

            
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #9 Posted by Allen on 18 Sept 2008, 10:32 p.m.,
in response to message #8 by Jeff Davis

They are Lazy and rude. Oh well... I offered to pay them a visit in person next week before the HHC conference and he got really nervous. GRIN!

                  
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #10 Posted by Dan Grelinger on 22 Sept 2008, 10:45 a.m.,
in response to message #9 by Allen

Do you think he was nervous because he thought you might ask to talk to the owner?

Dan

                        
Re: What's happened at CMT??
Message #11 Posted by Wlodek Mier-Jedrzejowicz on 23 Sept 2008, 12:16 a.m.,
in response to message #10 by Dan Grelinger

Last time I was in Corvallis - must be more than 5 years ago - I did go to CMT and talk to David Lin who was the boss, and who at one time invited me to write a user book for the MCII, like the books I wrote for some HP calculators. So, he knew me. I specifically asked him about any remaining stock of CMT memory modules for the HP-71B. He was fairly polite but emphatically said that, though they may have a few left in the warehouse at the back, this is no longer what they are interested in, and it would not be worth his trouble paying someone to hunt for them. It looks like they have had a lot of HP fans since then asking similar questions, and the person who answers the phones is even less interested. That's surely bad business practice, but they seem to be run by whoever put money into the company, from Taiwan so far as I could tell at the time, and maybe now mainland China, interested only in new products. Do we know any Chinese HP calculator fans who might manage to get further in talking with CMT?


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